SSA Part II: SSA Work Incentives to Consider During Transition Planning Ellen Condon Project Director University of MT Rural Institute Marc Gold and Associates

SSA Part II:SSA Work Incentives to

Consider During Transition Planning

Ellen Condon Project Director

University of MT Rural Institute

Marc Gold and Associates

July 21, 2011

TACE Center: Region IV, a project of the Burton Blatt Institute.Funded by RSA Grant # H264A080021. © 2011 All Rights Reserved

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Work Incentives that maybe applicable to youth in Transition

• Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE)

• Section 301

• PASS Plans

• IRWE (Impairment Related Work Expense)

• BWE (Blind Work Expense)

• Ticket to Work


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Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Financial benefit available to people with low income levels and little or no resources, who have a disability, or a child with a disability, or are age 65 or older.

Usually comes with Medicaid. The amount of the financial benefit fluctuates with an

individual’s income & living situation.Maximum amount/month $674 in 2011.


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Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

• Under 18, child has a disability,• And parents and the student meet income

qualifications (earned only): 1 parent household, gross income

<$2,821/month, 2 parent household, gross income <$3,495/month

(2011).

• And resource limits Individual (less than $2000 in liquid assets) Couple (less than $3000 in liquid assets)


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Impact of Income on SSI

Earned income

• Disregard $65,

• Then disregard $20

(If no unearned income)

• Half of this amount is countable earned income

Unearned Income

• Disregard $20

• The remainder is considered countable unearned income.


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Example of impact of income on SSI check (non student)

• Earned income $485/month

• Subtract $65 + $20= $400

• ½ of $400 = $200 (countable earned income)

• $674-$200= $474/month SSI check


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Student Earned IncomeExclusion

• For full time students: Up to age 22, Attends classes at least 8 hours/week (college) Or high school 12 hours/week Or work prep. program course 12 hours/week

• Can earn up to $6,600/year or $1,640/monthprior to wages impacting SSI check (2011).

*make sure that SSA knows of the “student” status when you submit paystubs monthly.


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Section 301

• Continued payment of Benefits while you are under Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) or other employment service (ticket to work), or another service with an employment plan in plan (an IEP for students 18-21)

• Your benefit (SSI and Medicaid) may continue until participation in the program ends even if you have “recovered”

• SSI eligibility of Youth who receive SSI is re-determined upon turning age 18.


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PASS Plans

• Plan for achieving self support.

• Kids and adults are eligible.

• The plan will fund goods or services that will allow a person to become more self-sufficient.


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PASS Plans

• A Work incentive program developed by SSA to encourage SSI recipients to work.

• Excludes resources and/or income from being counted by SSA and allows the resources to be ‘set aside’ to be used to fund a vocational goal.

• Must be approved by SSA.


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PASS Plans can fund:

• Equipment,• Services such as Job Development, Job coaching,

Personal Care, Transportation,• Writing of the PASS • School,• Vehicles,• Anything needed to support a person to become

employed , or advance their employment.• (PASS Plans can not fund managing the PASS)


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Students who are eligible for PASS

• Must be eligible for SSI and have income that reduces their SSI check or a resource that is over $2000.

• Most students will not have wages that reduce their SSI check (until they are no longer a student i.e. the day after graduation)

• There are students who will have unearned income that reduces their SSI check.


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Income that might reduce a student’s SSI

UNEARNED• Parent’s retirement

benefits,• Parent’s disability

benefits,• Survivor’s benefits,• An adoption subsidy• Child support

EARNED• Student wages over

$6,600/year• Parent wages if under

age 18


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State Medicaid Threshold1619 (b)

• Each state has a maximum earnings threshold which SSI recipients can reach before jeopardizing their Medicaid.

• (and an Individual Medicaid Threshold can also be established)


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State Medicaid Threshold 2011

(amount you can earn before losing Medicaid)

• Florida $28,753

• Mississippi $25,922

• Georgia $27,509

• North Carolina $33,568

• South Carolina $28,141

• Tennessee $26,645

• Kentucky $27,345

• Alabama $24,438

gross earnings/year


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How do you Identify that a student is eligible for a PASS?

• Are they under 18? or are they an adult?• Receiving SSI?

If yes, is it less than $674/month? If yes, what is the income that is being counted?

• If not receiving SSI, why not? Turned down due to too much income? If yes, could that income be sheltered in a PASS? Turned down due to excess resources?


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Identifying Eligible Students

• Be aware of changes in a student’s life which could make them eligible for a PASS Parent dies, Parent retires, Parent begins drawing disability insurance, Parent income increases (<18), Student countable income increases (when they

graduate and no longer are under SEIE). They accumulate resources over $2000.


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Resources that could make you ineligible for SSI

• House or property that person applying (or parents of person applying) that they do not live in,

• Life insurance policy depending on cash value,

• Retirement plans depending on cash value,

• Unsheltered inheritance.


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PASS Plans

• Promote consumer and family choice and control,

• Can bridge the gap between school and adult services A PASS can transition with the student, and they Can be used to leverage other funds,

• Are flexible in what they purchase and whom they purchase it from.


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PASS Plans (part 2)

• Vocational Goal,

• Time frame within steps of the goal will be achieved, Logical progression?

• Budget, adequate to achieve the goal? Reasonable?

• A plan to reach the goal,

• Contract with SSA to shelter or not count the income which is going into the PASS.

• TIME LIMITED


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PASS Plans (part 3)

• Must be in writing,

• Approved by the PASS Cadre

The goal is to become more self supporting or reduce the reliance on SSA benefits.


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Budget

• After excluding the money in the PASS does the person have enough to cover their living expenses?

• The amount of your PASS depends on how much you have to shelter.

• You typically shelter your countable income or the resource that makes you ineligible for SSI.


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Vocational Goal

• A work goal that the person can likely reach (feasible considering disability, education and vocational experience)

• It helps to justify how you targeted the goal

• “To increase hours and independence at current job”; “to obtain a position working in an office”; “to become a school teacher”, “to determine a vocational goal”…


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Vocational Goal (cont.)

• What you are buying is NOT the goal (attending college or buying a vehicle are not goals- they may be a means of achieving the goal).


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Other tips…

• Your milestones and time frames are adequate to meet the goal,

• You have adequate income or resources to pay for budgeted services or items.

• Be specific about what you will purchase, from whom, why it is necessary and the cost.

• Include a cover letter.


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More tips…

• If your plan to save or spend, or what you will buy changes, contact the Cadre and discuss an ‘amendment’.

• If you do not reach your goal in the intended time frame, contact the Cadre and ask for an ‘extension’.

• If your Vocational Goal changes you will need to write and submit a new plan.


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We match people’s skills with your needs.

Rod’s PASS paid for computer tutoring, Job Development and Job coaching.


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Lance started his own business, L&C Deliveries, while still in school.


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He and his brother combined their PASS plans which paid for this van and allowed them to start a delivery business.


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At age 16 Anne was receiving the full amount of SSI. Within a Year, she began getting survivor’s benefits which reduced her SSI


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Anne’s PASS plan

• Goal: Logistics Coordinator position

• SSDI $310/month (less <$20 into PASS)

• Funded: Transportation Job Development Job Coaching

• $9,610


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Anne graduated June 1, 2002

• She was hired by Awesome Discoveries Day Care.

• 20 hours week, earning $480/month,• SSDI $310/month, • Her PASS was amended to shelter wages

and SSDI for $497.50/month.• She purchased a van, paid for follow-along

support and a driver.


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Maclaen graduated from Polson High school in 2002. Our goal was for him to have a paid job by graduation.


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Impact of wages on SSI

• SSA allows $85 for earned income exclusion prior to reducing the financial benefit.

• The SSI check is reduced by $1 for every $2 earned over the first $85 for adults.


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Maclaen

• After graduation Maclaen began earning $400/month.

• His SSI check would have been reduced by $157-$207/mo. without a PASS.

• A PASS has been written to shelter his countable earned income.

• He then received the FBR of SSI, plus wages not sheltered, and had up to $200/month in a PASS.


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Vocational Goal

• “Obtain a position in the desk top publishing field”

• Second Goal “Obtain a position in the literacy field”


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Assisting Customers


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Casey needs extended coaching time


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South East PASS Cadre

• Birmingham, AL (800-254-9489)

• AlabamaFloridaGeorgiaKentuckyMississippiNorth CarolinaSouth CarolinaTennessee


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Resources:

• PASSPlan.orghttp://www.PASSPlan.org

• University of Montana Rural InstituteTransition and Employmenthttp://ruralinstitute.umt.edu/transition Social Security (Fact Sheets) Products (Monographs): Keep the Bucks, PASS the

Bucks, Manage the Bucks (Newsletters)

http://www.passplan.org/

http://ruralinstitute.umt.edu/transition




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Impairment Related Work Expense (IRWE)

• Out of Pocket expense That is related to your disability And is necessary to work

• An IRWE allows you to reduce your countable earned income by allowing you to deduct 50% of the cost of the expense from your countable earnings.

• No time limit.• Submit receipts with paystubs to SSA.


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Impairment Related Work Expense (cont.)

• Not a vehicle for saving/sheltering (like the PASS) • IRWEs reduce the impact of your wages on your

SSI and give you a strategy to fund some of your expenses that you incur to go to work.

• Wages $485-$85=$400• IRWE ($200)= $200• ½ ($200) =$100 (countable earned income)• $674-100= $574 SSI check


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Blind Work Expense (BWE)

• For people who receive benefits due to blindness.

• Any work related expense is allowed (not only impairment related) Guide dogs Transportation Personal assistance Lunch Fica


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BWE Calculations

• Same as PASS

• Gross wages – general exclusion (-$20)

• Less work exclusion (-$65)

• Divide by 2,

• Less BWE


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Incorporating Work Incentives into Transition Services

• How do we get PASS eligible student’s identified?• Who will benefit from students having access to PASS

plans? V.R. Family/Student D.D. Services Employers


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Incorporation Work Incentives into Transition Planning

• Who can assist families apply for SSI?

• When are students receiving SSA benefits analyses?

• Who will write the PASS plans?

• Who will pay for PASS plans to be written?

• Who will manage approved plans?


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More Resources

Work Incentives Planning and Assistance Program (WIPA) by State:https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/oesp/providers.nsf/bystate

Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS)

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/work/PandA.html

Plan to Achieve Self-Support (PASS) “cadres”http://www.socialsecurity.gov/disabilityresearch/wi/passcadre.htm

https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/oesp/providers.nsf/bystate





http://www.socialsecurity.gov/disabilityresearch/wi/passcadre.htm


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Comments & Questions


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Contact Information

Ellen CondonRural Institute On DisabilitiesMarc Gold and Associates

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://ruralinstitute.umt.edu/transition

mailto:[email protected]



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THANK YOU!


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Upcoming Transition Webinars

Webinars Series: Social Security Administration and Transition

August 24 Community Employment for Everyone

http://tacesoutheast.org/webinars/2011/082411/index.php


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TACE Talks Transition (TTT)

Monthly concise information on best practices to transition counselors available for their own pace learning; – sign-up and start your subscription via the Transition Email-Listhttp://tacesoutheast.org/network/transition/email_list.php

http://tacesoutheast.org/network/transition/email_list.php


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Southeast TACE (Region IV)Toll-free: (866) 518-7750 [voice/tty]

Fax: (404) 541-9002

Web: TACEsoutheast.org

My TACE Portal: TACEsoutheast.org/myportal

Email: [email protected]

http://tacesoutheast.org/

http://tacesoutheast.org/myportal

mailto:[email protected]


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Education CreditsCRCC Credit - (2.0)Approved by Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor

Certification (CRCC) • By Monday, August 1, 2011, participants must score

80% or better on a online Post Test and submit an online CRCC Request Form via the MyTACE Portal.

CEU Credit - (0.2)Approved by the University College at Syracuse University• By Monday, August 1, 2011, participants must

download and submit an online CEU Request Form via the MyTACE Portal.

My TACE Portal: TACEsoutheast.org/myportal**For CRCC credit, you must reside in the 8 U.S. Southeast states served by the TACE Region IV [AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN]. If beyond TACE Region IV, you may apply for CEU credit.

http://tacesoutheast.org/myportal


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Disclaimer

This presentation was developed by the Southeast TACE Center: Region IV ©2011 with funds from the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) under the priority of Technical Assistance and Continuing Education Projects (TACE) – Grant #H264A080021. However, the contents of this presentation do not necessarily represent the policy of the RSA and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government [34 CFR 75.620 (b)].


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Copyright Information

This work is the property of the Southeast TACE Region IV

Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the authors. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.

Documents

SSA Part II: SSA Work Incentives to Consider During Transition Planning Ellen Condon Project Director University of MT Rural Institute Marc Gold and Associates